Diary of Anne Frank

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid's class devoted a whole class period to discussing the historical context around the Diary, including geopolitical events, WWII, and the Holocaust. I think they're also getting to watch a play or movie on Anne Frank next week.

A whole 45-50 min to cover the geopolitical events, WWII, and the Holocaust???? I don't know whether to laugh or cry at this.

It's 7th grade. A class period seems like a good introduction. They'll cover these topics again in high school US History and World History.

Wow, different poster but I think it's time to cry. 45 minutes to cover all the geopolitical events, WWII and the Holocaust then watching a movie which probably will be condensed into 1 class period but let's say it is two. So 3 classes of 45 minutes and nothing said about actually reading anything or any assignments. So much is wrong with all of this.

I mean, on the one hand, I understand where you're coming from. But on the other hand, English teachers are not history teachers, English class is not history class, and English teachers have, what, 3 or 4 weeks of classtime they need to spend teaching the Diary (or Tales from the Secret Annex) itself, right? How many days or weeks of Holocaust history classes do you expect them to add on top of that while still getting to the next unit on time?

Really, the right way to address this is to have a more integrated cross-disciplinary approach where kids learn about this in their actual history classes around the same time they study the book in English. Because you are right that the context is incredibly important. But it's not fair to blame English teachers who are already dealing with being required to teach more lessons than they can fit into a single year, for not coming up with and teaching enough history content to students (on an incredibly sensitive topic that I'm sure many teachers are hesitant about figuring out how best to teach...)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid's class devoted a whole class period to discussing the historical context around the Diary, including geopolitical events, WWII, and the Holocaust. I think they're also getting to watch a play or movie on Anne Frank next week.

A whole 45-50 min to cover the geopolitical events, WWII, and the Holocaust???? I don't know whether to laugh or cry at this.

It's 7th grade. A class period seems like a good introduction. They'll cover these topics again in high school US History and World History.

Wow, different poster but I think it's time to cry. 45 minutes to cover all the geopolitical events, WWII and the Holocaust then watching a movie which probably will be condensed into 1 class period but let's say it is two. So 3 classes of 45 minutes and nothing said about actually reading anything or any assignments. So much is wrong with all of this.

I mean, on the one hand, I understand where you're coming from. But on the other hand, English teachers are not history teachers, English class is not history class, and English teachers have, what, 3 or 4 weeks of classtime they need to spend teaching the Diary (or Tales from the Secret Annex) itself, right? How many days or weeks of Holocaust history classes do you expect them to add on top of that while still getting to the next unit on time?

Really, the right way to address this is to have a more integrated cross-disciplinary approach where kids learn about this in their actual history classes around the same time they study the book in English. Because you are right that the context is incredibly important. But it's not fair to blame English teachers who are already dealing with being required to teach more lessons than they can fit into a single year, for not coming up with and teaching enough history content to students (on an incredibly sensitive topic that I'm sure many teachers are hesitant about figuring out how best to teach...)

This is where the humanities MS magnets are so much stronger than home schools. The history and English classes are interdisciplinary and build upon each other.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid's class devoted a whole class period to discussing the historical context around the Diary, including geopolitical events, WWII, and the Holocaust. I think they're also getting to watch a play or movie on Anne Frank next week.

A whole 45-50 min to cover the geopolitical events, WWII, and the Holocaust???? I don't know whether to laugh or cry at this.

It's 7th grade. A class period seems like a good introduction. They'll cover these topics again in high school US History and World History.

Wow, different poster but I think it's time to cry. 45 minutes to cover all the geopolitical events, WWII and the Holocaust then watching a movie which probably will be condensed into 1 class period but let's say it is two. So 3 classes of 45 minutes and nothing said about actually reading anything or any assignments. So much is wrong with all of this.

I mean, on the one hand, I understand where you're coming from. But on the other hand, English teachers are not history teachers, English class is not history class, and English teachers have, what, 3 or 4 weeks of classtime they need to spend teaching the Diary (or Tales from the Secret Annex) itself, right? How many days or weeks of Holocaust history classes do you expect them to add on top of that while still getting to the next unit on time?

Really, the right way to address this is to have a more integrated cross-disciplinary approach where kids learn about this in their actual history classes around the same time they study the book in English. Because you are right that the context is incredibly important. But it's not fair to blame English teachers who are already dealing with being required to teach more lessons than they can fit into a single year, for not coming up with and teaching enough history content to students (on an incredibly sensitive topic that I'm sure many teachers are hesitant about figuring out how best to teach...)

Oh my. Where to begin? English teachers have a large body of historical knowledge. What do you think writers are referencing in the writings that end up in English class?

[Anonymous]

Frost middle 7th grade reading the Diary. Not the Annex.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 7th grader is learning about The Diary of Anne Frank but apparently, they don't read the actual book, even though this is ENGLISH class. They just watched a movie about it and then did a "research" essay.

MCPS ELA instruction is trash.

That being said, my 7th grader's prompts and assignments from their teacher about The Diary of Anne Frank do talk about the Holocaust and World War II. So not sure why your kids omitted that context.

In 7th Grade, a core text is Tales from the Secret Annex. It’s not the diary.

https://docs.google.com/document/u/2/d/1GbCzfM3glwSUsf1DSYrYvCDhz4JgECgsStTaHLk8J3I/mobilebasic

Teachers were allowed to use the real book if the school already had it. My school chose the original for obvious reasons.

The new curriculum has a lot of adaptations replacing original texts. Like seventh graders also read an adapted version of Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I think good schools are going to replace the adaptations with the real texts more and more.

Agree. Adapted works: The Odyssey/The Iliad, Dr Jekyl & Mr. Hyde, importance of Being Earnest, The Squatter and the Don (why choose that one, even in its original form?)…

Like the amazing writing isn’t important.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Frost middle 7th grade reading the Diary. Not the Annex.

What curriculum are teachers using, or are they creating it themselves? (I'd be wary if that's the case--how it is taught is just as important as what they read).